With China's preferred candidate selected as Hong Kong's next chief executive, another blow to the morale of the city's democracy activists, their young leaders are taking a page from Beijing's playbook and preparing for a long battle.
At the leafy campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, there is little sign of the fervor that drove thousands of students to stage the Umbrella Movement street protests that brought parts of the city to a standstill for months in 2014.
"We still all care about Hong Kong's social issues, democracy, Beijing's interference," said Ceci Chow, a third-year nursing student, as she waited on campus beside a bronze statue of the 'goddess of democracy.' But she concedes there might not be the same "driving force" for action.